Our Take On: "Adventures in Babysitting"

In a word, the answer is: yes! We found the whole picture rather charming, and sweet without being saccharine – a deadly sin for films featuring young performers! We thought both Elizabeth Shue and  Keith Coogan (grandson of Jackie Coogan) gave very believable – and funny! performances in the lead roles. We also enjoyed seeing the city of Chicago prominently featured. And we thought this early role as the two-timing boyfriend by Bradley Whitford was entirely appropriate – and indicated his future success playing many screen villains. (We were also amused that the Camaro used by Whitford with the “SO COOL” license plate really was his!)

We talked about this being director Chris Columbus’ first job as a director, and how even here you can sense his appreciation for, and comfort level in working with young actors. His reputation for this, led to his getting the plum assignment as director of the first two Harry Potter movies. We got a kick out of just how many actresses were considered for the role of Chris Parker, and how Shue’s performance in The Karate Kid led to her getting this role.

While the level of violence and degree of danger were kept quite PG, one member did point out that most of what these pre-teen and teens do in the course of the movie would not be believable today, and we agreed that the film premise did stretch believability – but for the sake of some genuinely funny, engaging storytelling. We were relieved to learn however that the scene where Brad is stabbed in the foot – which looked scarily believable – was actually shot in reverse to get that effect. We also liked hearing about some of the in-jokes that were included such as the scene on the El where the two gangs are waiting to fight each other when the train crosses “Devereux” was a reference to director Columbus’ wife Monica Devereux and her father – who both appear in the movie.

All in all, we felt this was a worthy addition to our exploration of 80s movies and all were glad they came to see it.